


The Light Wraps You

by karrenia_rune



Category: Rose of the Prophet - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-28
Updated: 2010-11-28
Packaged: 2017-10-13 10:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/136381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quiet moment and an shared understanding between two people who have been through so much together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Light Wraps You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blakefancier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakefancier/gifts).



Disclaimer: The Rose of the Prophet Trilogy is the original creation of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, TSR, Ballatine Books etc; as are the characters who appear here or are mentioned; they are not mine. Note: There is an implied established relationship between Matthew and Khardan and the story was written for blakefancier's request in the 2010 Yuletide Rare Fandom Fic Exchange.

 

Throughout the pronounced heat of the day when the sun its highest point in the sky, most sensible people take to their tents; waiting it out before resuming their normal activity about the encampment.

Matthew has come to see the sense in this, and in fact, in a land of such harsh extremes; heat, and cold, light and darkness. He had never believed that he would live to take his first breath of the desert air, let alone the ones that came afterward.

He has learned more than he ever imagined that he would; and, if he is honest with himself he had come from his own homeland with the admittedly naive and hopeful spirit that they were the hopelessly savage and backwards barbarians that he'd been led to believe they were.

He's changed, he's learned; and after everything's that has happened, perhaps they've even learned from him. He believes that they have, especially the two who have come to mean the most to him; and while they do not talk about it in so many words; the understanding is there.

Matthew tosses and turns in a shallow sleep; for the first time since their return from the castle of the Black Paladins untroubled by nightmares; some from the things that were done and said in that terrible place, some the product of his own imaginings.

A figure dressed in the customary habit of the Pakrhan Desert nomads stalks through the camp darting from one shadowy stop to the next; the haik covering his face; the eyes behind the face-mask narrowed in concentration, seeking out one particular tent among the many gathered around the central oasis. He found it and then, reaching out with one strong hand yanks the opening aside.

Khardan himself had never been one to trouble over much over decisions; all of his life since the first day he assumed the role of Calif of his People; accustomed to swift, decisive command decisions and if were honest with himself; eagerly accepting the responsibilities that came with his title.

However, of late that responsibility is becoming ever more difficult, and while he knew in the back of his mind that it would be; every now and again, even the prophet of the God required a little downtime.

Khardan watched and waited until the young man registered his presence and then gently reached own to shake the other by his shoulder.

"Am I disturbing you?" he asked.

"Prophet? I mean, Khardan,.." Matthew stammers, broken out of a shallow sleep, sitting up to show that he is alert and awake. In days not that long ago, Khardan or even Zohra coming to his tent was if not strictly frowned upon by the rest of the tribe; it was at the best eccentric.

He had been the outsider, now; he was a part of the tribe. It was a heady feeling but even so Matthew still felt that could not take his membership for granted.

"Please, no titles, Not here, not now,” Khardan muttered.

"As you wish," Matthew murmured. This man saved his life, and while for the longest time Matthew had wondered if that life was worth saving; he had lived because of the remembered love and strength and reassurance in that gruff, deep voice.

"Not as I wish," Khardan muttered settling down on the sleeping rugs, idly plucking at a loose strands that unravel from the general weave; seeing and unseeing the patterns in the rug. Khardan then let the rug fall and reached up to pull down the haik so that his faced was bared and studied Matthew's features for a moment.

The silence lasts for a good while, but to Matthew's way of thinking it is not awkward at all.

The green eyes are wide-set and somber, but he has seen in them a wisdom far beyond their years and Khardan has learned to rely on both the heart and the mind of the young man to whom those eyes belong.

The young man’s skin is still as white and smooth as a woman, although, still susceptible to the blistering effects of the desert sun; they have all learned that Matthew is much tougher than any of them ever suspected, himself included.

“Was it Akhran’ or my decision to save this life and stand up for him before our people?” Khardan wondered. He shook his head as if to remove the inevitable cobwebs and shoved the meandering thought to a back corner of his mind and forced his thoughts back to the central topic.

“I am not good at this,” Khardan trailed off. “If I am disturbing you, please tell me, this is about more than gratitude, more than duty. It’s difficult to explain…..”

“You don’t have to… ” he began and then after a stretch of time in an undertone Matthew replied in and undertone, wondering if he was correct in the sudden assumption that hit with the force of sucker punch to the gut; that they were on same wavelength. At one point during his time here, Zohra had asked if Matthew was in love with Khardan; at the time; he had thought he was; but it was the kind of love that was shared between brothers, between friends; not the kind he sometimes longed for in the deepest hours of the night.

In his homeland, this kind of love was if not exactly forbidden, at least officially frowned upon. Things change, times change; even people change, often for the better.

Khardan shifted position slightly and seemingly as if reading his mind, without any further words required between them, reached out to brush aside a loose strand of sweat-soaked red hair.

Matthew, sensing almost instinctively; leaned forward and lay back into Khardan’s chest; the soft black robes. The man is a warrior from a warrior people; but with a gentleness that very few have ever seen him show, stroked Matthew’s hair.

Streaks of sunlight slanting in through the tent-roof and the half-open tent flight made of his face a mask of light and dark, and Khardan suddenly realized that he’d been a gift in this young man, a very precious one. And suddenly the wisdom of the God in this matter was made quite clear. The tension of the past several days and nights of tribal affairs just passed sloughed away in this stolen moment of peace and quiet.

“Why does love have to be so difficult?” Matthew murmured, at one point, so quietly that it’s not startling or breaks either of them out of the lassitude instilled in this space and time.

Khardan again turned so that Matthew is lying prone on atop the sleeping rugs and pillows with his head tilted up to look directly at the older man.

Khardan replied as softly as he could manage. “Perhaps we make it so; even without being consciously aware that we are doing so.”

“Yes, well,” Matthew murmured and laughed, a short, wry, but heartfelt laugh, “At least we’re aware that we’re doing so.”

Khardan’s bearded face broke into a wide grin. “Indeed.”

Matthew grinned back and slumped back into a quiet much more restful sleep than he could remember. Khardan remained to watch over him as he slept; a quiet smile creasing his lips. “Peaceful dreams. Rest well.“

And then, after a moment more and a final glance backwards at the prone form, Khardan slipped out of the tent as quietly as he had entered.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for blake fancier's request in the 2010 Yuletide Rare Fandom Fic Exchange  
> as a Yuletide Treat


End file.
